Elder Samuel Gish: Loving the Eternal Health (永康)

I LOVE MIRACLES! Do you know what brings miracles?....Well lots of things bring miracles! But for my wonderful companion Elder Smith and I, what brings miracles is PRAYER and DILIGENCE! We are going out and talking to everyone and really working hard! It has been a TON of fun. One thing that I have really noticed is that Pride is a stumbling block....A HUGE one. As I go out and talk to people it is even more apparent that usual. For example, when I go out and talk to someone and they start out trying to reject me but end up receiving the message in the end I used to always think to myself, "dang that was good, Elder Gish, you go khed, NO-ONE CAN STOP YOU"#KickinSatanInTheFace (Yes sometimes I think of hash-tags in real life...thank you Elder Ben Johnson! haha). But then I would notice that after that my contacts would go REALLY down hill if people would EVEN talk to me at all haha. It is kinda a little slap in the face like, Elder....really? So I set goals and make plans...I say I like being humbled a lot...but sometimes it really stinks...haha, especially when it involves people COMPLETELY brushing you off. So I have recently been praying pretty much ALL THE TIME. I ask for help when needed and I give thanks all the time, success or failure 都沒有關係(In english that means both don't matter....does that make sense in English?). So that has been a HUGE help and has brought miracles, lots of them! SUCH AS:

1) Talking to a guy while sitting for dinner and him saying, "Wait you are missionaries right? (the tags and white skin weren't big enough hints I guess) 'cause I have a lot of interest in what you guys share..." Elder Smith and I were blown away! That is one of those stories that we as missionaries read about and then dream about and then talk about in companionship study as what we wish could happen to us haha.

2) Seeing an R8 drive by on the road....I know this might seem like what? But when your are surrounded by nothing but scooters, then you see a car...then that car is an R8....my neck almost broke watching that beautiful baby pass by....mmmmhhmmmm :)

3) Having investigators that have been meeting for ever agree to baptism finally and then bring friends or son's to church! (We had THREE investigators this week give us referrals for people to meet with...SO AWESOME!)

I was worried a bit coming into this area after seeing some of the numbers in the area, but boy did the Lord show me wrong!! This area is amazing and I am so happy to be here!

So one thing...I wanna shout out to two people...one I can't remember if I already gave a shout out to Vash! If not...HERE IS YOUR SHOUT OUT GIRL! I can expect an email EVERY WEEK and they are always so good and help a ton! Thank you so much for being such an AWESOME FRIEND!!! :)

The other shout out is again to the most wonderful woman EVER! MOM!!! SO this shout-out is more because I was singing as I was biking ( I know...scary thought...) But I was and as I was singing a FLOOD of memories hit me and I just miss those days and wanted to tell Mom I love you! The most specific were of you seeing me to sleep when I was younger and then, my personal favorite, of you taking us to the laundry place back in Texas, sitting my on one of the dryers and then singing Les Mis with me...you singing Jevert and me singing ValJean! It was just such an awesome memory and I am so happy and glad to have you as a mom! You always showed so much love and care for us! Love you most!

And actually talking about going to sleep just made me think about Dad! I can't talk about going to sleep without thinking about how my Wonderful Super Dad would lighten up my mind with stories of dragons and other wonderful guy things as I would get ready for bed! Or how I know I could always count on you Pops. I could tell you anything, if I was scared I knew I could go to your room and be safe, or just yell and you would come bursting in (I speak from real experiences!...Yes I might have been a little chicken when I was younger ;)) So thank you so much Pops! I love you so much!

Taiwan is such a wonderful place and it is made EVEN BETTER because I am here 24/7 sharing the gospel! I am telling you all...the Gospel is TRUE! The Church is TRUE! It just makes everything in life better and it is THE SOURCE of true happiness and peace! You may be happy and everything now...but just wait till you have the gospel! It is like adding an exponent to the equation! It is just SO DRAMATIC the change that can and will occur! So go out and share it or just try it out! And don't take the word of some little 20 year old kid in Taiwan, look at the scriptures and those prophets, look at your neighbors and friends! Look at the Apostles and Prophets today! It is all so true!

Seriously nothing is better than sharing this gospel! So before I go I wanna leave a sweet invite!....ready?...hm.....its gotta be sweet....Okay, here we go, I want everyone to go read a story about Jesus from the Bible, I know that not everyone reading this may not have a BOOK of Mormon at Home, but you can find it online, so After you read the Story in the Bible go look at the Book Of Mormon Jesus (3rd Nehpi 11--->End). It is the Same Jesus, I know that book is true and I know that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. So reading those will just be good in so many ways! :)

I LOVE YOU ALL! SHINE BRIGHT!!!

p.s. pics are of the new zone…..

the new comp....

and a ninja...:)

Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao

葛勝龍長老

Shannon Here: But wait! Elder Gish sent a ton of wonderful pictures this week. See them all below.

I. IHelping out During the Dan Jones Tradition

Do you remember viewing the video of Sam’s first day in Taiwan? In it, he performed the mission’s tradition of a Dan Jones experience? (You can see him at about 5:15 seconds.)

As he did, there were lots of other missionaries there to help him – ones who had been out for a year or more to help with the language. Well, the following 6 pictures are of Sam helping out a brand new missionary during his Dan Jones experience.

II. Random shots. The captions are from Sam.

This is one of our best friends named Eli.

This is a guy that was getting baptized the week I left....he was sad I couldn't be there for him...:( (Shannon here: He couldn’t be there because he was transferred out of the area before the baptism.)